


Letting the Water Fall

by JemTheKingOfSass



Category: Free!
Genre: Friends With Benefits, Light Smut, M/M, Pining Rin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 16:05:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemTheKingOfSass/pseuds/JemTheKingOfSass
Summary: Somehow Haru already knows. He lets Rin get away with brushing aside lurking emotions and a desperate craving for more, is willing to grab quick tumbles in shared hotel rooms for traveling meets. He says he’ll wait for Rin, implies that someday Rin won’t want to hide from anyone, least of all himself.





	Letting the Water Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Sexy Sunday. It's not very smutty though, don't get your M rating expectations up too high. *sweats* 
> 
> I was listening to "Death of a Bachelor" by Panic! when I decided to post this and came to the spot to choose a title, so that's how that happened lol. I like it though, it fits the tone somehow.

 

*********

 

The rising sunlight paints rosy stripes on coal black hair and a vast expanse of toned shoulders, highlighting the landscape of a back Rin has travelled often enough to have memorized the terrain. He stretches out a hand, reaching across Haru, to lightly press his fingers onto the delicate bones of his wrist. Rin scoots closer, head propped up on his hand, torso pressed insistently against Haru’s side, where one arm should be except it is completely lost underneath a rumpled white pillow. Rin traces a line up Haru’s exposed arm, feeling firm muscle and bone beneath silky skin.

 

Last night had been shaving night. An hour passed, turning into two and then three, as they whiled away the evening lathering each other up, running the razor along slippery limbs, extra attention spent on darker, wetter places, as they distracted each other from the task at hand. Haru’s fingers had skillfully opened him from the inside out, revealing the molten core Rin attempts to bury behind a cool facade, easy grins, and quick denial of anything more. Haru had seen right through him as he dismantled him piece by piece, kissing away soft moans and stealing Rin’s breath.

 

Somehow Haru already knows. He lets Rin get away with brushing aside lurking emotions and a desperate craving for more, is willing to grab quick tumbles in shared hotel rooms for traveling meets. He says he’ll wait for Rin, implies that someday Rin won’t want to hide from anyone, least of all himself. He stares into Rin’s soul as though his body, his skin, the very covering that is supposed to protect him, is nothing more substantial than a pane of glass that only one person can see through. Haru never pushes, just patiently chips away at Rin like he hears something spoken inside of Rin, in a language he translates into what he wants to hear. 

 

Rin has never had any interest in listening to his inner voice, doesn’t want to comprehend the tongue, relying on ignorance for self-preservation.

 

If Haru pushes, the glass might shatter, and then there is nothing but the void of the unknown, laced with failure and unfulfilled desire. Rin has never liked losing and certainly never has so much been on the line. He’s lost things out of his control before, irreplaceable people and crucial parts of himself. Here he is mostly whole and has the power to manipulate the marionette strings enough so that he won’t slip backwards, a reckless downward spiral that careens off course. Rin considers himself perfectly alright with his emotionally stagnant rut, not gaining, but not _losing_. Haru understands him like no one else does, silently filling in all the cracks and fissures Rin doesn’t even sense within himself. He's fine.

 

Rin can’t break, he won’t allow himself. This can and should stay exactly as it is. This way, he gets a piece of Haru, something he can hold, kiss, caress, and no one, not even Rin or Haru themselves, can ruin it. This is enough because it is _something_ , anything else could be too much. Rin craves all of Haru so much he aches, pulses with a burning need that strikes his mind and races straight to his heart before Rin forces it down lower, to an animalistic part of himself he can control, a hunger he knows he can sate.

 

Anything larger and more colorful than what currently dwells between them is high risk and high reward; Rin has been nothing more than a coward.

 

Rin’s fingers find Haru’s shoulder and begin their languid descent down his back, outlining every ridge of muscle, each knob of his spine. Rin could spend all day touching Haru, stroking Haru, and it wouldn’t be long enough; he wants to lose time and himself within this man, feebly attempting to absorb his grace, his patience, his calm. He presses his thumb into a divot at the base of Haru’s spine, before reaching lower and grabbing a handful of firm ass, eliciting a sleepy groan from Haru as he shifts further into Rin’s hold. He sinks sharp teeth into his bottom lip in an attempt to contain his own voice, stifling his automatic response to Haru's pleasure.

 

Rin smirks, leaning down to kiss the exposed pale neck, licking a hot trail from a sensitive ear down to a rigid collarbone, wisps of dark hair curling slightly and tickling his nose. It’s time to rouse Haru, rubbing and tugging him until he wakes from slumber. Rin gracefully slinking down the mattress, shifting to his knees and ready to lap up every drop of Haru's magic, hypnotized by the rhythmic wave of hips as his name slips out of a drowsy mouth, chanted in gasping moans like it’s the only prayer Haru knows. Except Rin basks in the comfortable tranquility for too long, his traitorous hand not going the direction he intends, where a predictable and satisfying finish comes easy enough. Instead it inches higher, palm sliding smoothly up Haru’s abdomen and chest, hard-earned muscles ignored in favor of resting over one that requires no exercise to be beautiful and strong. 

 

Rin is well aware of what he feels for Haru and he yearns for more. He would give Haru anything—lasso the moon, wrangle the stars, everything from sappy romance poems and then some. He’s so close, it’s within reach, yet something holds him back from slamming into Haru with the fervor and confidence in which he hits the wall at the end of the race.

 

This is not enough, not anymore, and he understands that much. He longs for them to be swimming in an all-out forever, together in the same lane, water stretching endlessly out in front of them. The horizon is distant, but perhaps they can graze their fingers against it, finishing at the same time in a burst of light, allowing love to saturate the moment and create something more, a connection deeper than Rin can fathom.

 

 _Oh, but he wants it_ , and he desires it more with each passing moment. 

 

Maybe today will be the day Rin tells Haru. Haru already knows. He deserves to hear the truth from Rin. 

 

Rin presses his palm firmly over Haru’s heart, feeling the reliable power of his lover’s heartbeat, letting it fuel his own and bolster his courage. Rin nuzzles his nose along the curve of Haru's ear, before lowering his arm and laying his head down, sharing the pillow, accepting the warmth that flows between them. He lets his imagination wander, fuzzy sensations and hazy thoughts that have been avoided for too long, gradually coming into focus as his walls weaken and threaten to crumble, Haru present in every scene. Until their bodies stir and dreams fade away, when they are both lucid and present and ready to face the coming day, this will be enough, although Rin wants everything, all of Haru, right now, tomorrow, yesterday. Haru has lain dormant in the ground long enough, waiting for water and a ray of sunshine that Rin has been too scared to provide. He kisses the sturdy shoulder in front of him, waiting impatiently for crystal blue eyes to crack open and yet again let him in, perhaps more easily than he deserves, but if it's what Haru wants Rin will give him everything. 

 

After all, Haru has been awake for awhile.

 

Rin is awake now too.

 

*********

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I would just like to point out that a) I ~~again~~ managed to keep this ~~under 1k words~~ short, and b) Rin is an idiot. 
> 
> *wonders if I will ever again be able to write a RH story that doesn't involve one of them pressing their palm or cheek against the other's chest in order to feel the strength of a sturdy heartbeat*


End file.
